Somewhere between there and here I became a non-fiction "process" book junkie. I will devour information in ways that other people devour cupcakes. A few weeks ago I chomped my way through Getting Business to Come to You by Sarah and Paul Edwards. Although it's an "old" book, it had a lot of really excellent information. If you're looking for a newer version of the same information you may also enjoy Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch. These aren't the only two books on marketing, but they are really great practical books for small business owners.
Most small business owners that I've worked with have spent lots of time developing and honing their craft but haven't dedicated much (if any) time to truly marketing their business. Sure, sure you have a business card and a brochure and you go to networking events or maybe you've got a newsletter. That's marketing, right? Yup! But how effective are you at helping to explain your value to your prospects and customers?
Here are two fantastic ideas from Getting Business to Come to You that I'd love you to implement today:
1. Start a mastery journal
I don't care if it's print or digital, but I want you to start writing down your accomplishments. Did you solve a particularly tricky problem? Ding! Write it down. Did you discover a more efficient way of doing some part of your business? Ding! Add it to the mastery journal. You may want to include newspaper articles and blog posts about your business, or even personal correspondence where people acknowledged your expertise. I have a folder called, "Accolades" in my filing cabinet which includes the speaker notes that Damian Conway wrote on a post-it note at OSCON in 2009. It doesn't matter how you store this information, it matters that it's collated.
2. Develop a position statement
I get lumped in with a lot of different kinds of businesses that I know I have nothing in common with. ("So you do computer repairs?" Um, my VCR still flashes 12:00.. and yes, I still have a VCR.) I know that I'm different, and the more I think about and talk about these differences, the easier it becomes to articulate them quickly to new people. Your position statement should include:
- the point of view held by your best competitors
- your philosophy about the services and products you offer
- the unique features of your services and products
- the reasons why you run your business the way you do
- the mistakes you see repeated over and over again by your competitors and your prospects (or clients)
- the most common problems, needs, mistakes and concerns your products and services address
Your position statement is a private document. You may pull out elements to use in public marketing pieces (and you may even send the whole thing to a select clients in the future). But it's not meant as a promotional piece. It's meant to be a frank assessment of how your business fits into your industry.
If these ideas seem foreign to you, but you know they sound like something you should be doing, I recommend you buy yourself a copy of either Getting Business to Come to You (more detailed, loads and loads of amazing examples, but tech information is out of date) or Duct Tape Marketing (less detailed, good examples, tech information is more current). Check your library, local bookshop or Amazon for these titles.
